IDLES have put a gritty techno spin on the St. Vincent track ‘Pay Your Way In Pain’, which guitarist Mark Bowen says is intended to “ramp up the camp and the violence” of the original tune.
Sonically, the remix marks a stark departure from both IDLES’ and St. Vincent’s typical styles. It’s a deep, driving club banger evocative of ‘Power’-era Boys Noize, driven by spatial stabs of distorted bass, chopped-up vocals and a dry, minimalist beat.
‘Pay Your Way In Pain’ is the first track on St. Vincent’s sixth album, ‘Daddy’s Home’, which landed back in May via Loma Vista. In a statement shared with IDLES’ remix, Bowen said the band were drawn to the album for the way it “[uses] this camp energy in a really violent way”.
“It reminded me a lot of the energy of early house and techno,” he continued, “but wrapped up in this early ’70s aesthetic. I wanted to ramp up the camp and the violence in the remix but still maintain the sentiments and sensibilities of the original track.”
Have a listen to IDLES’ remix of ‘Pay Your Way In Pain’ below:
In a five-star review of ‘Daddy’s Home’, NME’s El Hunt said the album “feels warmer than anything St. Vincent has done before, trading in cold precision for looser rock’n’roll sounds that act as a kind of portal into her memories”.
She singled out the “strutting [and] funk-influenced” ‘Pay Your Way In Pain’ as a highlight, saying it “skewers sin as big business especially well”.
In the months since St. Vincent released ‘Daddy’s Home’, the genre-bending artist released her film ‘The Nowhere Inn’ – wherein she portrays a “metafictional” version of herself – covered tracks by Metallica and The Velvet Underground, launched a ‘70s-themed radio show, and announced a slate of UK tour dates for 2022.
IDLES, on the other hand, recently released their fourth studio album, ‘CRAWLER’. NME gave it a four-star review, saying: “On their first three albums, IDLES instructed others to interrogate their feelings and live their lives being as emotionally open as possible.
“With ‘CRAWLER’ they take their own advice, adding a whole new dimension to an already beloved band. This appears a stepping stone in the band’s evolution, rather than the finishing line.”
The album – which Bowen and frontman Joe Talbot told NME was shaped by sobriety, accountability and trauma – will be toured throughout 2022, with an Australian and New Zealand run lined up amid festival appearances at Creation Day, 2000trees and Roskilde.